No. 423.
Mr. Evarts
to Mr. Hoffman.
Washington, April 19, 1879.
Sir: On the receipt of your telegram of the 14th instant, which is hereby acknowledged, you were addressed by cable communication on the same day as follows: “President and people cordially congratulate His Majesty on providential escape.”
The appreciation entertained in this country of His Majesty’s exalted [Page 918] character, as the wise and firm friend and protector of the great Russian people, has greatly intensified the satisfaction which would naturally follow his escape from the bullets of the assassin. The President, calling to mind the expression of the deep sympathy of His Imperial Majesty, which was conveyed by Prince Gortehacoff to the minister of the United States at St. Petersburg, on the assassination which, upon the 14th day of April, 1865, plunged the American people and the world into mourning, tenders in return his especial congratulations upon His Majesty’s providential escape.
I am, &c.,